How Loki might shape the future of the Avengers

Just like the other Disney Plus series have left tantalising teases of what’s to come, here’s how Loki can shape the future of the Avengers.

Going Dark

With Avengers: Endgame disbanding the Avengers we’ve come to know, there are questions about who’ll make up the team for the inevitable Avengers 5 and who they'll face. There are swirling rumours that instead of a singular threat like Ultron or Thanos, Earth's Mightiest heroes will go up against a Dark Avengers team. The roster of villains could include the likes of Loki, Baron Zemo, Taskmaster, and US Agent, while the idea of the Dark Avengers in the MCU could be pulled directly from the comics.

Posting on Reddit, u/comicclub1089 posited that Loki will set up the ‘Siege’ arc of the comics. The 2010 story followed Spider-Man foe Norman Osborn leading a team of villains consisting of Doctor Doom, the Hood, Taskmaster, Loki (and more) in a war against Asgard. According to the theory, Loki will end his series with the freedom to pick any timeline - choosing the main MCU because Asgard is destroyed, the Avengers are largely disbanded, and Odin is dead. Plenty of opportunities for the God of Mischief...

Even though Osborn is yet to appear in the MCU, Spider-Man: No Way Home is rumoured to be a trippy adventure with the return of Spidey favourites like Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire alongside villains like Electro and Doctor Octopus. Willem Dafoe again donning the guise of the Green Goblin would be a major casting, but with Norman Osborn having the potential of being a Thanos-level villain, it might be better to recast and start anew.

If it’s too early for Norm, Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine looks like she has plans for assembling her own rag-tag team of rogues that fits the ‘Siege’ bill anyway. Either way, the formation of an anti-Avengers team is sure to keep our heroes on their toes.

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Messing with the Multiverse

There are also hopes Hiddleston will return for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. For longer than we can remember, he’s been tipped to wear his horns for the Doctor Strange sequel - they're due a rematch after Thor: Ragnarok – and it’s clear Loki is dabbling in the Multiverse for his own series, which ties neatly into the title of Sam Raimi’s movie.

Redditor u/Environmental_Golf65 posted a theory that Loki’s story will be linked to the arrival of Nightmare in Multiverse of Madness. Although the villain is usually associated with Doctor Strange, they pointed out that Loki has battled Nightmare on several occasions, and even in his own comic series. There’s also the “crackpot” idea that Loki makes himself Sorcerer Supreme in one of the timelines.

Elsewhere, everyone remembers those recurring theories that Mephisto would be the big bad of WandaVision. Even though he didn’t appear (not even as that fly), some think they’ve spotted an Easter egg in the first Loki trailer. Multiverse of Madness’ villain is yet to be revealed, but aside from Nightmare or even Scarlet Witch herself, Mephisto would be a popular choice - and it might all start with Loki.

Familiar faces

Finally, Loki’s tour of the timelines in his titular series means a few familiar Avengers could also return. Remember when fans got a heartbreaking reunion between Thor and Hela in Avengers: Endgame? Well, death is similarly not the end in the Multiverse and while Iron Man might be permanently down for the count, there’s rife speculation that Chris Evans will return as Steve Rogers/Captain America.

There have been reports that Kevin Feige is plotting Evans’ return – but it’s not expected in the Anthony Mackie-led Captain America 4. With that said, it’s unclear where Cap went when he returned the Infinity Stones at the end of Endgame, though he certainly lived a long life before Old Man Cap handed over the shield to Sam Wilson.

Cap is often called the Man Out of Time, and the Russo Brothers teased we’ll get to know more about his timeline tales in a future project. And perhaps Loki is that project – in one trailer Owen Wilson’s Mobius M. Mobius charges Loki with temporal crimes, but what if Rogers is also an enemy of the Time Variance Authority? Loki is the first adventure to really mess with the timelines, meaning it’s a logical place to flesh out Cap’s missing years. Then again, retconning his happy ending with Peggy Carter would be sure to cause a stir.

Whatever is going on, Loki has the potential to blow the Multiverse - and frankly, the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole – wide open. With the timeline trickster recruited by the TVA, it looks like the series is throwing the rulebook out of the window and is ready to catapult the Avengers into a new era.

Looks like Loki truly found his glorious purpose after all...

Loki begins streaming on Wednesday 9th June, with new episodes released weekly - see our Loki release schedule for more information. You can sign up to Disney Plus for £7.99 a month or £79.90 a year now.

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